Florida Panthers: Hypocricy In Hockey

I've seen and heard countless talking heads in the past 24 hours ripping Panthers' defenseman Keith Ballard for accidentally whacking his goalie in the head while swinging his stick in frustration.

It seems they all want to be the first to denounce Ballard's actions and express their outrage. It's easy to bash Ballard right now.

But it's also hypocritical.

Because sticks are bashed on the goal cage over and over and over again in frustration. It's done just about every game. Goalies themselves do it. And all this time, in my four-plus seasons covering the NHL, I've never heard anyone express outrage. Only when Ballard is the unlucky one to have it turn out disastrous.

I'm curious to know if everyone who's calling for a suspension now -- and there are a lot of people doing so, do they want a suspension because of what Ballard did, or because he happened to connect with his goalie's head. Because that's two different things.

If you're going to suspend Ballard, then you need to suspend every single player who ever smashes his stick. All are reckless in their actions. Most are just lucky enough there is no consequence on the ice.

Let's make this clear: Yes, what Ballard did was absolutely and without doubt stupid. But it's a stupid action that's commonly done in frustration and accepted as the norm in the NHL.

But it's easy to be almighty and righteous and pile on Ballard -- Hey, who'd be stupid enough to smack his own goalie, right? It's also unfair.

I was especially bothered by Barry Melrose hammering Ballard on ESPN. Barry's a longtime hockey guy. He should know better.

As Ballard's teammate Bryan Allen said after Monday's game, Allen's done it before. It could have been him. It could have been anybody. It could have been one of Melrose's players when he coached the Kings and Lightning. Would he have been so outraged then and thrown his player under the bus? Then again, maybe he would.

This is the same guy who walked out on his Lightning team just before the start of practice down here in South Florida and walked back to the team hotel while they practiced by themselves. A few days later he was fired. Ballard, unlike Melrose, has the respect of players on his team.

Why pick on Melrose? Because he works for ESPN, and in the U.S., it doesn't get any bigger than that in sports. Everyone who watches highlights saw the Ballard-Tomas Vokoun incident. Many of them don't know hockey, don't know Ballard, don't know that what he did in frustration is too often dangerously done.

So they watch the analyst, Melrose, and believe Ballard is a buffoon, when he's far from it -- a smart, witty, genuine guy who cares about his teammates as much as anyone.

How about instead of hammering Ballard, we shift the conversation to how to eliminate stick smashing, or at least decrease the number of times it happens? How about we debate whether the league could/should do something to deter it, like dole out a two-minute unsportsmanlike penalty and/or fine?

Yeah, Ballard messed up royally -- in front of all of North America. But he no doubt made some players think twice about smashing their stick in frustration again.